Stephen F. Austin State University
SFASU Faculty Senate
Ethics Committee Meeting Report
First Reading, November 12, 1997, Faculty Senate meeting #270.
No action required.
The Ethics Committee of the Faculty Senate was given the task of examining the status of
statements concerning ethics in both the Faculty Handbook and the Policies and Procedure
Manual of the university. It was found that there is a section in the Faculty Handbook entitled
Ethics Laws for State Employees under part V. General Information. This section deals primarily
with conflict of interest, bribery, gifts, misuse of state property, etc. and is primarily a summation
of the pertinent Government Code {572.001}. There is no section in the Policies and Procedure
Manual dealing with ethics directly.
After much discussion and consideration the committee makes the following recommendations:
1. Because the section in the Handbook is simply a summation of the appropriate state
laws, we feel that it is unnecessary to place this information in the Policies and
Procedures Manual.
2. We feel that at this time it is not necessary to include a general statement concerning
ethics in either the Faculty Handbook or the Policies and Procedures Manual. Specific
situations related to ethics are addressed in various other policy statements, including
Academic Responsibility, Sexual Harassment Complaints, Misconduct in Research, etc.
The committee feels that there is very little to be gained in including a general statement
concerning ethics when specifics have been addressed, especially when a general
statement about a nebulous topic would encourage interpretation and thus conflict.
Submitted by John Moore, Chair, Ethics Committee